Embracing Complementarianism

There are a number of Christian doctrines that, though important, do not necessarily have a significant impact on our lives or relationships. It may be good to have convictions about infralapsarianism over against supralapsarianism, but that conviction will probably not make a great difference to day-to-day living or to life in the local church. There are other doctrines, though, that have a seismic impact so that your convictions will have significant consequences to your life, to your family, and to …

Men and Women in the Church

A book about a Christian perspective on manhood and womanhood faces an immediate challenge: Do we really need another one? There are, after all, any number of titles that deal with the subject and do so with skill. Could there really be a place for one more? Kevin DeYoung believes there is and, for that reason, has written Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction. He explains that it is meant to stand apart from others …

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Letters to the Editor (Honoring the Dishonorable, Complementarian Readers, Big and Little Sins)

Letters to the Editor is an opportunity for readers of this site to respond to things I have written. Here are a few of the top letters from the past couple of weeks. Comments on Honoring the Dishonorable As a wife who experienced ongoing domestic abuse at the hand of a professed Christian husband and struggled in raising children within that environment for many years even as I pleaded for help from my church leadership, I read this article with …

Ask Me Anything (Gifting, Marriage in Heaven, Complementarianism, Family Devotions)

Here is another edition of Ask Me Anything. Today we cover using gifts, death, marriage in heaven, family devotions, and the outworkings of complementarianism. How do you balance using your gifts to edify the local church versus the universal church? Your blog has greatly edified me, but I wonder what your opinion is on striking the balance? Should you be more focused on your local church instead of blogging to benefit the universal church? This is a question I’ve had …

Why I Am Not Egalitarian

I’ve got just two articles remaining in this series I’ve titled “Why I Am Not…” Week by week I am describing why I have rejected some theological positions in favor of others and my purpose is not so much to persuade as it is to explain. There is a story behind every position I hold and each of these articles tells one of those stories. I have already told why I am not atheist, Roman Catholic, liberal, Arminian, paedobaptist, or …

Eve

On the positive side, I think [William] Paul Young has become a markedly better writer since The Shack. On the negative side, he continues to use his writing to undermine and redefine Christian theology. By my reckoning, that’s a net loss. Where The Shack was meant to revolutionize our understanding of God, his new novel Eve is meant to revolutionize and rescue our understanding of the relationship between men and women. And it is no less troubling. Now, obviously Eve …

Created To Be His Help Meet (Part 2)

Part one of my review of Debi Pearl’s Created To Be His Help Meet showed that even though I agree with the broadly complementarian thrust of the book, it is marked by a harsh and critical spirit and offers far too much foolish counsel. Today I want to point to three more concerns: poor theology, poor use of Scripture and far too little gospel. If you have not yet read the first part of the review, I’d recommend doing that …